Tae Lee

When Tae Lee asked me "so how do you feel about guns?" I knew this show was going to be wild. While he settled for a painted baseball bat, the intention is still there. Tae is pleading to incite action. This is his self proclaimed "crash out show." He contemplates through his work why everyone isn't talking about the darkening landscape around us.

The baseball bat will be used to destroy Tae's depiction of "American Progress" painted on a punching bag made to look like an AGM-114 Hellfire missile. "American Progress" paints a female personification of the United States laying the groundwork for industry through train tracks and telegraph wire destroying indigenous people and a herd of bison. He's not shy about wanting to dismantle imperial settler colonialism that was and is America.

The direct toughness of the content is surprising when juxtaposed against the soft lines and colors that make up Tae's paintings. You can tell Tae's work develops freely and that his painting process matches how he lives his life. There is no right or wrong way of thinking or being. There is a little bit of planning, and the rest relies on instinct created through a complete presence in the process.

It's not surprising Tae has allowed himself full and nonjudgmental attention to the present moment. Tae shares his capacity by hosting a 30 minute silent meditation on Tuesday nights. His community comes together, drinks tea, meditates, journals, discusses and eats. Today, he brings his community together to view art, to observe a ritual performance, to swim, and to really converse about what is easy to ignore. Together, we regain balance between the materialistic and spiritual world around us, and for that, we thank him.

May Tae be happy. May he be well. May he be safe. May he be peaceful and at ease.

— David Maxwell, Flower Residency Host